Born in 1928 in Bordeaux into a musical family, his mother being the renown harpist and musician Micheline Kahn, Jean-Michel Damase showed precocious musical talent. His studies began at an early age: when he was five he began to attend the Samuel-Ro [+]Born in 1928 in Bordeaux into a musical family, his mother being the renown harpist and musician Micheline Kahn, Jean-Michel Damase showed precocious musical talent. His studies began at an early age: when he was five he began to attend the Samuel-Rousseau courses in piano and solfège. When he was twelve, he became a pupil of Cortot at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and in the next year he joined Armand Ferté’s piano classes at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1943, he was unanimously awarded the Premier Prix in piano at the Conservatoire. Two years later he entered Busser's composition classes and began to study harmony and counterpoint with Dupré. At nineteen, he won the first prize in composition with his Quintet and his cantata “Et la Belle se reveille” (And Beauty Awakened) won him the Prix de Rome. Damase's youthful compositional maturity helped to foster a considerable technical facility and he has produced a great deal of music in a style that is attractive and elegant, remaining close to the traditions of the Conservatoire. All his works show deep knowledge of the possibilities of instruments, and his orchestration is rich, full and varied; evidenced most notably in the chamber and concertante works. He is also great lover of ballet and a close friend of several leading choreographers. His first ballet score was “La Croqueuse de diamants” (The Diamond Cruncher) written for Roland Petit and first produced at the Marigny Theatre in Paris. He was awarded the Grand Prix Musical de la SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) and the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris. This recording proposes 4 concerti for the harp, the composer’s favourite instrument, to which he adds successively a flute, a viola and a bassoon. The Concerto for bassoon, harp and strings is dedicated to Harp & Co-soloists Rachel Talitman and Luc Loubry, and was recorded here in world premiere conducted by the composer himself.
RACHEL TALITMAN
was born in Tel Aviv. After graduating the Music Academy at the Tel-Aviv University, she came to Brussels to study with Suzanne Mildonian at the Royal Conservatory of Music where she obtained the “diplôme supérieur” for harp and chamber Music with distinction. At the same time she specialised in French music with Pierre Jamet in
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